OK, maybe I overcooked it somewhat! When I refer to bollockings, I don't mean anything like a full scale dressing down in front of the CFI, but like anywhere you're expected to turn up on time and you'll be told if you're not doing so!
OAA certainly does not have the feel of a military flight training facility, it is unmistakedly civvy, and the instructors are very aware that you are paying an awful lot of money for the course and will bend over backwards to help you through the course. A very pleasant group of people.
And while I am fully aware of the ex mil difficulties that were faced in the past (we do a 3 day CRM course as part of the APP run by an outside company), I have had no sense of a steep authority gradient and all of the instructors are, from our experience, extremely easy to sit in a cockpit with. I have to say that from what I've heard, ex mil mavericks are somewhat career limited these days and don't tend to last too long once it becomes clear that their attitude is not of an MCC manner.
So, again, perhaps I made it sound somewhat more regemented than it is, but it IS still more regimented than most smaller schools, and I'd argue that that's a good thing, personally I think that flying is very different from most civvy jobs and does require a bit more than you'd perhaps get away with in many other careers, due to what can go wrong and what is required of a person facing those issues.
And on the Ryanair note, don't believe everything you may hear. I have spoken to quite a lot of the people who have gone there - their pay is excellent, admittedly the first 4 months is unpaid, but if you can afford a course it's a fairly good bet you can afford to scrape by for that time somehow, the gear is brand new and the guys who have gone there have very, very few complaints. What we usually hear is very different from what goes on, it seems.